What would be the best SLR to get for a beginner?

Regular Rod · Feb 19, 2015

jhonmartinvish said:
I'm planning on starting a beginners photography course in September but don't know what kind of camera to get. I want a DSLR or SLR whichever is best? For around £350 and one that will kind of grow with me if that makes sense, so as I advance into intermediate and advanced I can begin to use new features with it such as new lenses etc. Any ideas?

What is there to "teach" in digital? Plenty to learn, but the students can learn everything on their own by trial and error using digital and at almost no cost.

So sticking to film, bearing your budget in mind and remembering that students can be hard on equipment they aren't paying for, seriously, you could do a lot worse than look for a good Canon F1 (the early type before 1981 not the "New F1"). The old F1 was built to withstand professional use (you could knock nails in with them and they'd still work). It has the simplest of through the lens metering. Apart from a battery (in a converter to 1.3V) for the meter, there are no other electronics to let you or your students down. Start with a 50mm lens and keep an eye on eBay for FD fitting Canon lenses when you want to add to the outfit.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canon_F-1

RR

Roger Cole · Feb 19, 2015

ME Super said:
Aww, you Nikon fans and Canonphiles have most of it wrong (hey, at least you still shoot film, so you don't have it all wrong). Pentax is where it's at. Pentax lenses are good quality and quite inexpensive these days (I picked up a 28-80mm Pentax zoom up a few months ago from KEH for $13). Plus, Cosina still makes a camera that uses Pentax K-mount glass. Heck, with my AF Pentax body and an adapter, I can even use every full frame lens Pentax ever made - K-mount, screw mount, it doesn't matter!

Pentax is good. For a manual film SLR get a chrome MX. For some reason the black ones are way more expensive (and more rare.) The MX is a far, far superior camera to the more famous K1000 (I have one of each) and often less expensive as well.

baachitraka · Feb 19, 2015

Black Pentax Spotmatic with Helios 44-2 58mm f/2.0 lens. Me going crazy with swirl bokeh.

Xmas · Feb 19, 2015

Roger Cole said:
Pentax is good. For a manual film SLR get a chrome MX. For some reason the black ones are way more expensive (and more rare.) The MX is a far, far superior camera to the more famous K1000 (I have one of each) and often less expensive as well.

Well a PRC K1000 with plastic showing cause the chrome has worn off and damaged from impact will be cheaper and has fewer things to go wrong in it. You don't need a pristine MIJ model.

A similarly worn FG or FG 20 with series E lens, ... maybe even a FM and series E lens. My FGs have survived long drop tests on concrete

OM1 (n)

etc.

Lots of the bottom range models are ok.

Training though more much more important, than camera type.

Noel

MattKrull · Feb 19, 2015

This question was posed in 2012. I think the OP figured out his camera choice. Actually, given that this was his one and only post, maybe he never got that SLR...

Lee Rust · Feb 19, 2015

I like the idea of the Pentax MX, with its small body and big viewfinder image. That being said, over the past two years I've learned more about exposure and focus with an instant film back on a Crown Graphic than I ever did in almost 50 years of using 35mm cameras.

blockend · Feb 19, 2015

Without wishing to be rude in any way, anyone who doesn't know whether they want a digital or film camera, is unlikely to be able to assess the nuances between single lens reflex models, or between reflex, rangefinder or viewfinder cameras. My advice is to get any camera that offers you full control and doesn't cost a great deal. DSLRs with less than 10 megapixels sell for very little and take perfectly acceptable photographs, as do most SLRs. We're biased towards film on this forum, but a photography course may be rigged up to produce digital images and lack processing chemistry and darkroom.

The best advice is to contact the supervisor and ask his opinion. If his advice on cameras costs more than a couple of hundred, ask someone else.

Xmas · Feb 19, 2015

blockend said:
Without wishing to be rude in any way, anyone who doesn't know whether they want a digital or film camera, is unlikely to be able to assess the nuances between single lens reflex models, or between reflex, rangefinder or viewfinder cameras. My advice is to get any camera that offers you full control and doesn't cost a great deal. DSLRs with less than 10 megapixels sell for very little and take perfectly acceptable photographs, as do most SLRs. We're biased towards film on this forum, but a photography course may be rigged up to produce digital images and lack processing chemistry and darkroom.

The best advice is to contact the supervisor and ask his opinion. If his advice on cameras costs more than a couple of hundred, ask someone else.

Alas some of our colleges still do not buy into your sympathy.
Last Sunday I had to pose to have my photo taken by a student who had a film blad, it was free issue from the college.
The South bank Uni still has its own film/wet print processing lab, and a PDF prospectus that requires students to acquire a 'suitable' film camera...

Sirius Glass · Feb 19, 2015

Regular Rod said:
What is there to "teach" in digital?

Chimpin'! The number one reason that I do not become a fauxographer is that I cannot get the hang of chimpin'. There are no remedial chimpin' classes online, at camera stores or at community colleges. When I take a photograph I know whether or not I got it and I just cannot bring myself to chimp. Help!

blockend · Feb 19, 2015

Xmas said:
Alas some of our colleges still do not buy into your sympathy.
Last Sunday I had to pose to have my photo taken by a student who had a film blad, it was free issue from the college.
The South bank Uni still has its own film/wet print processing lab, and a PDF prospectus that requires students to acquire a 'suitable' film camera...

Excellent news, but your university degree doesn't sound like the beginners course the OP was talking about. Yer typical local photography course leader would view a 'blad like something from the moon shot. I anticipate it will be about using sliders to recover shadow detail and megapixel pi**ing contests from his/her classmates. The sooner that stage is over the faster they can get on with the business of photography, which as we all know, has almost nothing to do with writing big cheques.

fotch · Feb 19, 2015

MattKrull said:
This question was posed in 2012. I think the OP figured out his camera choice. Actually, given that this was his one and only post, maybe he never got that SLR...

Ha ha ha, I guess that doesn't matter. My bet is the OP went digital.

RobC · Feb 19, 2015

fotch said:
Ha ha ha, I guess that doesn't matter. My bet is the OP went digital.

I'd bet he just posted to put a link to his business website to boost his ranking.

What would be the best SLR to get for a beginner?

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